Manufacture of rewoven carpet



Aug. 16, 1938. c. R. M GIMSEY MANUFACTURE OF REWOVEN CARPET Filed Nov.17, 1937 INVENTO R L/zara; Z. 1% f/ZWZJZfl I ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 16,1938 UNHTED STATES PATENT OFFEQE.

7 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of rewoven carpet, and moreparticuularly to a method of producing rewoven carpet from old cut pilecarpet. Although the term cut pile carpet should be clear to those ofskill in the art, it may be explained that by that term I mean carpetwherein the pile threads are cut or come to an end at the top or outersurface of the carpet, being usually arranged in so-called pile-Vs whichare each looped at the apex over a weft thread and held between adjacentwarp threads of the carpet base. Cut pile carpets include, for example,the weaves known as velvet, Wilton, or Axrninster, and are thus to bedistinguished from what I shall call the closed type of carpet weave,wherein each nap thread or yarn is continuous across or lengthwise ofthe fabric, as exemplified by the carpet weaves known in ingrain, body,Brussels, or tapestry.

For reasons of economy, it is often desired to reweave old rugs or otherpieces of carpet into a new carpet, which may be of different dimensionsand which may have an all-over color representing the colors of the oldcarpet used, or may be dyed or carefully woven to present new patternsor colors; much saving can be made by thus utilizing old carpet, whichmay be Worn, faded, torn or otherwise practically useless. In the caseof old rugs of the closed carpet weave, such 30 as those hereinabovementioned, it is a relatively simple process to use the materialcomprising the yarns and threads of the old rug, for reweaving; but incut pile carpets the pile yarn consists of a multitude of short andoften loosely twisted pieces which naturally separate as such, so thatdirect methods are ineffective or uneconomical to derive weft forreweaving, from old rugs of the cut pile type.

One method of employing the material in old cut pile carpet to make newrugs or other carpet has involved the use of a machine which breaks upthe old carpet material and reduces it to a mass of very short,substantially untwisted yarn fibres. They must then be put through aregular spinning process, as if they were fresh unspun wool, tore-create a continuous yarn, and that, with other threads, subjected toa preliminary weaving operation, to produce the fluffy weft employed inthe ultimate production of the re-woven carpet. That weft, however, isvery light and sleazy, and hence a filler weft must also be employed inweaving the carpet. This filler is usually twisted paper, or a heavystrand of sized jute; and as a result, if it is later attempted to washor clean the rewoven carpet, such paper becomes soft, or if jute isused, the sizing is dissolved, and the carpet or rug becomes limp andlacking in sufficient body to rest on a floor satisfactorily.Furthermore, there is no way to restore the firmness of the carpet,since the filler wefts are so closely associated with the pile weft,that sizing or the like cannot be reintroduced in the filler.

Among other objects, the present invention has for its purpose theavoidance of complex and relatively costly procedure, such as that justoutlined, for re-weaving old cut-pile carpet. Another important objectof the invention is to provide a simple, economical and rapid method forproducing re-woven carpet from old cut-pile carpet; to provide such amethod which may be carried out without specialized complex apparatus,and with a minimum of labor and attention; to provide, as a result ofsuch method, a rewoven carpet of remarkable durability and particularlypleasing appearance; and to provide for the production of a firm,full-bodied re-woven carpet which may be cleaned or washed many timeswithout injury to its body, firmness, or other characteristics. Otherobjects and advantages will be hereinafter mentioned or will becomeapparent as the invention is described.

Referring to the drawing, which illustrates certain stages in apreferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. l is a perspective view of the old carpet as passed between a pairof rolls for the treatment step of the method, and

Fig. 2 shows a narrow strip of the treated 01 carpet, partly twisted foruse in reweaving.

In carrying out the invention in the manner which is in part illustratedin the drawing, the old cut pile carpet It, preferably after it has beenswept or otherwise cleaned, is passed between a pair of rolls ll, I2,and latex i3 is forced into the backing or ground of the carpet fromwhat is normally the floor side of the latter. The latex l3 may beconveniently applied to the surface of one of the rolls H by anapertured conduit l4 fed from a hopper l5. Thus naturally spreading overthe surface of roll l l, the latex forms an even liquid sheet whichengages, and is impregnated into, the backing side of the carpet H]; orthe arrangement may be conveniently such that the latex is poureddirectly into and along the V between the back of the carpet Ill and theroller ll.

Before the latex-treating step, the old carpet, or particularly itsunder side, is preferably wet with water, not only to make it pliableand more easily worked, but to facilitate the absorption of latex by thebacking fibers of the carpet, and afford an economy in the amount oflatex re quired for satisfactory results.

After the old carpet has been treated with la tex as described, so thatthe backing, and particularly the interstices between the ground threadsthereof and the apexes of the pile-Vs, have been permeated with theliquid rubber material, the carpet may be allowed to rest for a period,usually only a few hours, so as to eifect at least some setting oroxidization of the latex. Thereupon the treated carpet may be cut upinto narrow strips, say one-half inch or less in width, which areeventually tied together to make the weft that will constitute the napin the ultimate rewoven rug.

As shown in Fig. 2, the strip 20 thus cut from the old carpet ispreferably twisted (as shown at 2|) throughout its length, so that thefinal element consists essentially of a strong central core from whichradiates a. cylindrical brush of yarn fibres. It will now be appreciatedthat any such division of the original old carpet into strip, evenwithout any attempt at twisting, would cause a great deal of the cutpile to fall out; but with the latex treatment as described the cut piletufts or Vs are tenaciously held by the resulting deposit or film ofrubber, to the backing threads, and the latter (both warp and weft) areheld together as well as in engagement with the base of each pile tuft.Consequently the old carpet may not only be effectively divided intorelatively narrow strips, but the latter may be twisted as tightly or asloosely as desired, without any'loss of the pile fibres at all,-even inthe case of portions of an old carpet where the pile has worn very shortor has been partly worn away, or where the backing has worn thin orloose, or where the backing has been broken or dry-rotted (as by dryingat too high a temperature after cleaning). It is believed that thecutting of the latex-treated carpet, and the twisting of the strips, maybe advantageously carried out before the latex has completely set,thustending to make the strip retain its twisted shape naturally, after thelatex has fully set.

If the twisted strips are'too short to be satisfactorily introduced, forexample, as weft elements in the ultimate reweaving process, it will beunderstood that they may be tied, spun or otherwise fastened together tomake up longer strips. The strips may be, if desired, out from the oldcarpet with the cutting devices which have been previously used fordividing up closed weave carpet, such as Brussels, for reweaving, andwhich are provided with opposing toothed rollers that engage oppositesides of the strip to work it and make it fluffy. With the presentmethod, however, the last mentioned parts need not be used in manycases, since the cut pile of the original old carpet usually affordsample fluffiness; in addition, the strips may be much narrower, and acloser weave employed for reweaving, so that although the weft made ofthe strips may have less body, the finally rewoven carpet has a morecompact, uniform and plushlike surface than hitherto attainable in anyrewoven carpet. Furthermore, the strips need not, as is generally thecase in preparing to reweave Brussels or like closed-weave carpet, becut parallel to the warp threads; they can be conveniently out thelonger way of the rug, whether along warp or weft, or along a diagonal.

The final step of my method is then to utilize the treated carpet strip,preferably twisted in the manner described, to weave the rewoven carpet.Although other weaves may be employed, I prefer to use the describedstrip or strips as weft in producing carpet of the type calledreversible chenille (or fluff rugs), i. e., having what is generallyknown as a Smyrna weave. After weaving, it is generally not necessary tooperate on the fabric by a shearing machine of the type used uponprevious types of rewoven carpet, since the pile or nap surface of thedescribed carpet is pleasingly uniform and even. The resulting rewovencarpet is very durable, and has a soft but closely compacted surface ofremarkably pleasing appearance; furthermore, it may be repeatedly washedor otherwise cleaned without injury to its body, firmness or otherdesirable characteristics.

By way 'of specific example, I have obtained good results using, for thetreating step of the process, a composition made up of threeparts byvolume of a commercially available 77% latex (viz., 77% rubber) and onepart by volume of water. Other proportions may of course be used, andthe rubber material impregnated into the backing in other ways than bysqueezing between rolls; it being chiefly important to obtain a stronglyadhesive but readily resilient impregnation of the backing withoutappreciableoverfiow into the standing part of the pile yarn. Instead ofordinary latex, there may be used other settable liquid rubbermaterials, in the form of solutions, dispersion, rubber cements, or thelike, or substitutes or equivalents therefor. The treating liquid, suchas the latex solution specifically referred to, may also include dyes orcoloring matter, so that for example the backing alone is dyed, and can,only show in the ultimately rewoven ca pet as darker than or of the samecolor as the nap,-in accordance with the dye so used. In that way, theresulting rewoven rug may be made to have a more uniform and even color,than carpet rewoven according to the prior methods hereinabovedescribed.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to. the specificprocedure and materials herein illustrated and described, but may becarried out in other ways without departure from its spirit as definedby the following claims.

I claim:

1. Method of producing rewoven carpet from old cut pile carpet,comprising causing liquid rubber material to set in the base of the oldout pile carpet, dividing'the carpet material into strip form, andutilizing said strip, with the pile tufts held in the base thereof bythe set rubber material, in weaving carpet.

2. Method of producing rewoven carpet from old cut pile carpet,comprising introducing settable liquid rubber material into the base ofthe old cut pile carpet, and thereafter weaving carpet with narrow stripcut from the old carpet and having the pile tufts held in the base ofthe strip by the rubber material set therein.

3. Method of producing rewoven carpet from old cut pile carpet,comprising impregnating the base of the old cut pile carpet withsettable liquid rubber material, dividing the treated carpet into narrowstrip form having the pile tufts retained in the base of the strip bythe setting of the rubber material therein, twisting the strip, andWeaving carpet with the twisted strip material as a nap-forming elementtherefor.

4. Method of producing rewoven carpet from old cut pile carpet,comprising causing liquid rubber material to set in the base of the oldcut pile carpet, dividing the carpet material into strip form andtwisting the strip, to provide a napforming element wherein the piletufts are held in the twisted base by the rubber material, and utilizingsaid element as weft in weaving carpet.

5. Method of producing rewoven carpet from old cut pile carpet,comprising treating the base of the old cut pile carpet with settableliquid rubber material and causing said material to set partiallytherein, cutting the treated carpet into narrow strip form and twistingthe strip before the rubber material has fully set, and after saidmaterial has fully set, weaving carpet with said strip as a nap-formingelement.

6. Method of producing rewoven carpet from old cut pile carpet,comprising impregnating the base of the old cut pile carpet with asettable liquid rubber material, dividing said impregnated carpet intonarrow strips after the rubber material has set to prevent displacementof the cut pile from said strips, and without removing the pile from thebase in the strips, weaving a carpet wherein the strips are used forweft.

7. Method of producing rewoven carpet from old cut pile carpet,comprising pressing a settable liquid rubber material into the base ofthe old cut pile carpet from the under side thereof, permitting saidrubber material to set at least partially, cutting the treated oldcarpet to provide a weft comprising the old carpet material in stripform with the pile held to the base by the rubber material, andutilizing said carpet.

CHARLES ROBERT MCGIMSEY.

weft in weaving 15

